Little Known Ninjutsu History: Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu
Little is known about Ninjutsu – since it’s been open to the West in only the past 30 years. Where does it come from? What inspired masters to keep with their training? How did they begin? Where here is a little background that goes past what is considered ‘common knowledge’ that is really not so common.Current Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jujutsu Training in Los Angeles
History of this Jujutsu School
According to the newsletter from Manaka Unsui Sensei, a Buddhist monk named Unryu devised training for taijutsu, bojutsu and shurikenjutsu (unarmed fighting, staff fighting, throwing stars) around 1570, which eventually became Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu or Jujutsu.
In 1645, Takagi Oriemon Shigetoshi added more grappling, and in 1671 Takagi Umonosuke spread the training widely and included Naginata skills. Much later, around 1841, three top students branched off to make their own “seito-ha” or student-breakoffs of training: Fujita Takagi Yoshin Ryu, Ishibashi Takagi Ryu, and Ishitani Takagi Yoshin Ryu. Our training is derived from the first and last of those named above, giving us a total of 94 unarmed jujutsu techniques from the Takagi martial arts lineage.
Read MoreKata vs Kamae: Brutal and Subtle Martial Arts Training
In our summer special training, we spent a lot of time studying the embodiment of the feelings of the kamae of Jinen Ryu. This was very inspirational, and in Los Angeles, I’ve made an effort to bring that idea to the attention of the members of our Dojo.
This past Saturday, training was approached in a more “advanced” way than usual, and the intensity was taken up a notch at the same time.
In case you’re interested in trying to look at the same concepts, here’s what we were doing:
The Meaning of a Kata
Let’s start off by recognizing that martial arts “kata” or “forms” can exist to teach a specific lesson relevant to immediate application as-is for self-protection/fighting and/or to teach a concept/idea that serves a more general approach to learning.
Read MoreBisento (War Halberd) Seminar – Taming a Beast!
BAM!
That will definitely leave a mark! The Bisento techniques that we will be going through on Sunday, August 29th during the seminar comes from the Kukishin family (a well-known Samurai lineage). However, in order be considered a ‘true’ ninja, one would have to be well versed in a variety of disciplines. From Gunryaku-heiho (war strategy) to the ten Kontou (hiding techniques), you would also be required to be practiced in a myriad of weapons, one of them being the giant Bisento. If you could wield that, then your coordination, strength, taijutsu, and so on were probably right on point.
When handling the Bisento you must have a reasonable understanding of Sutemi (sacrifice or putting yourself at risk). Due to the heft of this weapon your recovery time is slower, thus you must invite your opponent in appropriately and give everything in every attack. This makes training with the Bisento good for your taijutsu and your kakehiki (strategy/ give & take).
Contrary to what most might believe, the Bisento can be wielded quite effectively by any with a decent amount of skill, not just the big folks. When I first trained in Bisento with Manaka Sensei and Peter Sensei in Japan, Dante Park, one of the LA Dojo’s students who was a mere 13 years old and not the largest for his age, handled it with such grace that even Manaka Sensei commented on his technique.
seminar the last Sunday of August – 29th, from 9am-4pm.
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Martial Arts: Your Progress Map
My time training in Japan this past week, with nearly all of the Dojo-Cho from around the world in the Jinenkan has helped bring us all together to make the organization even stronger. In addition, the training itself required that we question what we may have thought we already knew. This will be an overview article, that I hope we will discuss in the Dojo and online.
守破離 shu – ha – ri Preserve – Break – Release
These are the three big phases of training – any training in any topic:
守 When you first encounter new learning, the single best thing you can do is emulate it and get good at what you’re trying to learn. You can make fast initial progress by getting a general sense of what’s supposed to happen, and focus on just enough details at any one point to get closer and closer to doing it “right” based on the model that has been presented for you to follow.
破 Once you’re doing an acceptable job of copying the model, it’s time to start asking more questions: why does it work that way? If the context changes, what would change? What would not change at all? Is it the same in any direction? Does it matter who is doing it? What other factors matter, and which don’t matter? It’s time to break up the basic learning pattern, and get thinking about the details that make it what it is.
There is no bonus to rushing to do this, though: go ahead and get good at copying the best model you have … and only then start worrying about why it’s such a great model. If you’ve done a good job in your initial search for a topic to study, this will be easier to do.
離 At some point, if you found a topic worth studying, and you got good at it, and came to a deep understanding of it … funny part is that it won’t really matter any more. The “form” of what you’re doing will be an obvious outcome from the understanding of the details that you have at that point. The natural result of those first phases is that you’ll have a high quality result, probably similar to your initial study, but not because of simple copying. It doesn’t seem to matter when this phase happens either, and it’s impossible to rush to get to it, so don’t lose any sleep over it.
I’d like to discuss these phases of development as they apply to our training. Please do think about it, and either comment or talk about it in the Dojo, etc.
Read MoreMartial Arts vs. Self Defense: What is the difference?
If I know martial arts, don’t I know self-defense?
The answer to this question is perhaps a bit easier than it first seems. Is fighting always needed to keep myself or others safe?
The elaborate way I think of it is, in the large Venn diagram of self-defense and martial arts, there are large places where they overlap, but there’s an even larger space where they don’t.
That is what I wish to point out here – all the overlooked areas where they don’t.
You can generally keep yourself (& others) safe without fighting anyone. Ridiculously simple techniques – like pinching believe it or not – can be all that you need to get someone away from you or a loved one. Someone grabs your friend’s arm, you give them a good smurf bite, they’ll most likely let them go – and you have plenty of time to grab your friend and get out of dodge.
Self-defense courses usually include:
- situational & environmental awareness
- 3rd party intervention
- legal awareness
In the “before” stage, if you are aware of your surroundings, you will seldom (if ever) run into an issue. Then in the “during” stage – getting yourself out of the situation and as far away from it as possible is all you really need to learn. The “after” stage should be calling the cops, determining what a “safe place” to go is (important especially for kids) and so forth.
So then, “does that mean that if I do martial arts (assuming it’s a fighting art) does that mean I can defend myself?” I mean, if I can fight I can defend myself right? Surprisingly, the answer to this is more often than not, “No.”
Not to get me wrong, being able to fight can be useful, and training may have given you a good mindset if a situation should arrive. However, there are many other factors that people tend to overlook. How many times have you looked at a fighting martial art that studies more than just fighting. When you spar or train, all the elements are already in place, and it is understood that you two are after each other. There is no question, whether they are going to come at you – that’s what you’re there for!
Martial Arts courses usually include:
- fighting techniques
- fighting muscle memory/honing
- fighting mindset
Simply, fighting. Fighting is so intense, emotional, and complex, that 95% if not 100% of the training is spent on it. All the little nuances of body language, and subtle cues of what might become a fight is simply ignored at this point, because you assume fighting.
Fighting is when you both parties want it. California calls it “mutual combat”. Self-defense means at least one of you, for your sake or that of bystanders, doesn’t.
Now, if you are lucky enough to train in a martial art that occasionally takes learning how to spot an altercation into consideration, what of 3rd party or group tactics? How many fighting martial arts will introduce a scenario that your kid is being grabbed by someone, and you and your spouse see that and need to intervene? Or if you see someone refusing to let go of your friend, how to stop what is happening without fighting? What if there are minors involved?
These are all ways of hands on self-defense with no fighting skills necessary.
Finally, there is the part where most people tend to ignore – we’re in the 21st century, there are laws. If you happen to own anything, and would like to keep it that way, you cannot just come in swinging. Being aware of what the legal climate looks like where you live or even where you might be traveling to, is always a good idea. Keeping up on those laws (“ignorance is no excuse”) is a great way of ‘intellectual’ self-defense.
Those of you who know me, know that I train in martial arts regularly and believe that it can shape an amazing lifestyle, and I could not see my life without it. That being said – train hard, think harder. Things aren’t always easy to lump into one category. Martial arts and self-defense can be learned together, but are usually taught separately. Always looking at the big picture is the best way to save a life.
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